


Expendable

by extra_plus_ordinary



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Lance (Voltron) Angst, Lance (Voltron) is a Mess, Lance (Voltron)-centric, Langst, No shipping here guys, Well a bit of shipping, galra conspiracies, trapped with enemies, yeah just seeing where this takes me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-21
Updated: 2017-08-29
Packaged: 2018-12-18 00:46:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,924
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11863128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extra_plus_ordinary/pseuds/extra_plus_ordinary
Summary: In a split-second decision, Lance makes a choice.Or: Lance's self-doubt and hatred land him in a marooned Galra ship in the middle of a political battle for the throne.





	1. Capture

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first ever fanfiction, so please comment and critique my work if need be. I don't really know where exactly this is going, so updates may be infrequent or frequent, depending on my mood.

Lance knew a thing or two about physics. The teacher at the Garrison was, surprisingly, a good one. Although the sections on radioactive decay and electromagnetism always seemed to escape his understanding, classical physics was never a problem.

  
Take kinematics, for example.

 

_"Hurry up, Shiro! The door!"_

_"I...I know...."_

 

At the speed at which Lance was currently sprinting, compared at the speed at which the door in front of him was slowly sliding closed, he would make it through without a second to spare.

Shiro, however, would not.

The Black Paladin was injured. After the fight with Zarkon, he had been teleported to a rebel base-a rebel base manned by none other than Matthew Holt himself. Buoyed by the realization that his sister was not only alive but a defender of the Universe, the rebels he commanded started to take on bolder and riskier operations, most likely to draw the attention of Voltron. Instead, they had captured Lotor's.

Which is how they were captured. Shiro had taken a laser directly in the robot-forearm and was now cradling it tenderly, wincing when a stray spark or two would fly out of the twisted metal. With his only weapon disarmed (heh, heh, Lance chuckled), the only thing he could do was try to keep up. Which he was not.

This mission was a mess.

"Lance, we got Matt and the rest out of the low-security prisons. Headed to Pidge's Lion." Keith's voice crackled through Lance's helmet. "Where are you and Shiro now?"

"We're busy!" Lance snapped back, leveling his blaster and shooting the door controls. No such luck. The doors were still closing, and only he would make it out. Shiro was already lost. That was how physics worked. They were the rules by which the universe operated. There were no loopholes.

But.

_Newton's First Law: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force (i.e a push)._

_A push._

Lance slowed down.

"Lance!" Shiro was now running right beside him, and they both knew that it wasn't because Shiro had gotten faster. "What are you doing?!" He yelled at Lance. "Hurry up!"  
He had already begun to turn himself into the defensive position, most likely in order to cover Lance's escape-and to prolong his own life. It seemed as if Shiro had done the math as well, and knew that his fate was sealed.

Lance' eyes clouded over with unshed tears. His leader had gone through so much over the past two years. Shiro never talked about his time on the Galra ship, but the shudders and muffled screams that could be heard from his room at night were more than enough. He didn't to deserve to die here. He deserved to be the Black Paladin, to lead the others and the rest of the universe into an era of peace after Zarkon's reign. He didn't deserve this. He didn't deserve to die while Lance survived. Lance, on the other hand...

He put a hand on Shiro's back. And then he pushed. Hard.

Shiro, to his credit, did not fall.

The push only served to accelerate his sprint, and he actually made it through the door with seconds to spare, sliding sideways in order for his shoulders to fit through. He gasped and clutched his arm again, wincing at the sharp movement but grinning all the while. They had made it. Against all odds, they made it through the door and out to safety. He straightened and looked back at Lance. Lance, who should have been one step behind him.  
Who was always one step behind them.

But.

_Newton's Third Law: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction._

The push that Shiro was given had only served to push Lance back.

He made it to the door too late, with only a small sliver of light shining through the cracks. Shiro was yelling, trying to jam both hands into the slit and pry it open. "Lance!" He cried, and he only sighed. "Don't injure your arm, buddy. You've only got the one." He turned on his comms. "Keith, Shiro is in the south wing of the ship, only a floor up from your Lion. Get him and get out."

The line was static for a moment. Then Keith's voice came through, his speech halted and questioning. "Roger that. But- where are you?"

The door was nearly closed now. Lance peered through and saw Shiro, wide eyed and panicked, staring back at him. He cracked a smile and wave, and addressed them both.

"Me? I'm just doing my part for the team."  
A crackle on the other end.  
"What?"  
"Nothing. I...just have to find an alternate route." He eyed the Galra grunts that were steadily making their way towards him. There were dozens of them, more than he was used to facing in a team, let alone going solo.

He breathed and continued his lie. "I'll use the air vents to get to Pidge. When you get Shiro, go!"

He cut their connection and commed Pidge as well, telling her that he was with Keith and to get the heck out of dodge without looking back. She took it without a hint of suspicion, not even noting the faint wobble in Lance's voice, or that he ended it with a rather tender "Goodbye, short-stuff.". She merely huffed and cut their connection, the silence in his head now deafening.

  
He breathed.

 

It was fine.

 

 

They were going to be fine.

  
The doors slammed shut with finality, and Lance turned back, blaster at the ready, to make his stand.

-

  
He had destroyed 41 Galra grunts before Allura called.

 

"Lance!"

  
She sounded a bit panicked, which wasn't anything new. She almost always panicked at the smallest faults in a plan, although she tried to smooth it over her rather commanding voice. He noticed those things about her. He noticed a lot of things.

"What up, Princess?" He drawled, nonchalant. As if he wasn't surrounded by enemies, barely holding them off with his blaster. He was trying to inch his way through the hoard using the wall, but that wasn't going so well. His arms were starting to quiver, and his vision was blurring just ever so slightly. But he was holding on. He was fine.  
It was fine.

"Don't tell me you're still on that Galra ship! Pidge and Keith both thought you were with the other paladin!"   
Lance could just barely make out Pidge's worried voice talking to Hunk about something. "Did Shiro make it out?" He asked calmly.

"What? Of course he did," Allura said dismissively. Lance could visualize her waving her hand, as she always did when Lance asked a stupid question."He fainted on the way back, but Keith got him out, thankfully." A sting of annoyance pierced through Lance, but he kept his attention on the minions that swarmed his vision. "But where are you? Are you near an airlock? We can get a pod-"

He breathed.

"Allura." Allura stopped talking. His voice had taken on a cold, firm edge to it. She wasn't used to him sounding so...hard. None of them were. But he needed to be hard for what he was going to say next.

  
"I...can't get out. I'm trapped and under heavy fire. You're going to have to leave me."

 

"What?" Hunk now interjected, his voice crisp and clear. He must have come closer to Allura while they were talking. "Nononono. We are getting you out."

Lance sighed. "Hunk, listen-"

"No, Lance, _you listen._ Pidge and I are already starting on an electromagnetic wave that can knock out all Galra robots for a few minutes. It'll take some time, but-"

"We don't have time."

Both Lance and Keith said this. A silence drifted down on the group for a few seconds as each boy gaged the other. Keith started again. "We can't wait for the wave. I'm going back in to get Lance." Lance just scoffed at this remark.

"You know you can't do that. The barrier they put up was difficult to get through in the first place, and that was with Pidge's cloaking device. You won't be able to get through again." He could hear Keith's teeth grinding as he said: "I can blast my way through."

"And do what? Nothing? You'll only attract attention from more ships and probably Lotor himself."

"Good. Let him come."

"Nuh-uh. Remember the last time we fought the guy? He nearly destroyed the castle! The mission was to get Shiro and the rebels out, and we did. Now you guys can leave." Lance gasped as he shot the head off of a grunt who got uncomfortably close. Another one immediately took its place and he nearly groaned out loud. Was there any end to these guys?

Allura's voice was back in his ear, her tone now firm and authoritative.

"Lance," she began, "you are an essential member of this ship. You are the Blue Paladin of Voltron, and it is your duty to not only ensure other's lives but also your own. As a needed paladin-"

"Allura." Lance's voice had grown icy, and he spoke through gritted teeth even as his focus never wavered from the foes in front of him. "Can you do some math for me?"

"Of course!" Her tone became lighter in an instant. "Do you need to get some trajectories? I can-"

"No. I need you to count how many Paladins are with you in that room."

An intake of breath. She knew where this was headed. Seconds felt like hours as the line went silent, save for the rhythmic discharge of Lance's canon.

After a few ticks, she answered.

 

"Four."

 

He snorted. "Add yourself as well, Princess."

 

"F-Five." She quickly added, "But that doesn't change any-"

 

"Oh, it changes everything!" He snarled at her and she paused, surprised by his outburst. "In that room, there are five paladins who can pilot five lions, which in turn form Voltron. In that room, there are five amazing fighters, thinkers, innovators and leaders who will defend the Universe from the Galra Empire. That's all you need, isn't it?" His voice lowered to a bitter snarl. "Just.Five.Pilots.You don't need me, Allura." The ice in his voice threatened to crack. "I'm doing what you've always wanted. Staying out of the way."

Another bout of silence, followed by a few sniffles. Lance held his tongue, wanting yet not wanting to apologize for his words. They were the truth, after all. They were the truth the minute Blue had decided to shut him out and let _her_ in.

 

He breathed.

 

"We still need you."

 

Apparently, Keith was still there. His words had lost the venom they should have carried, and now they just hung there, suspended in the air. Lance considered them, weighed them. Part of him was surprised, happy, even, to hear this. At a different time, it would have been heart stopping.

But not now.

 

Not now.

 

He breathed.

"This is a war, Keith. And you want your best soldiers fighting on the front lines." An intake of breath from Keith as he reiterated his words from that conversation they had so long ago.

"Didn't you say to focus on the mission? That things would work themselves out?"

A weak "But I-" crackled out. The hoard was now an acceptable distance away, and he was getting close to a door in the hallway. A reprise. His body deflated for a millisecond with relief, but his voice remained steely for the rest of his response.

"I focused on the mission. This is how things worked themselves out."

Keith was struggling to form words. "Lance, I didn't mean-"

"Oh, you never mean to-"

At that moment, he felt a presence behind him.

His body, now lax with the promise of a safe haven, moved clumsily and slowly as he tried to turn and face this new threat. The figure moved with him, staying just out of the corner of his eye as they spun with his back and grabbed the back of his neck, which was just visible between his helmet and suit. Cold, long talons wrapped around his throat and he choked, only now registering the thought that he might die, he might actually die with Keith's voice yelling in his ear "Lance? Are you alright?! Lance?!".

But more chillingly, he might die with another voice in his mind, telling him that he had a good run and that honestly, it was more of a relief anyway because dying would mean that he was no longer a burden to anyone, to everyone that he met.

The assailant, however, seemed to have other plans.

Lance's whole body tensed as he felt the tell-tale prick of a needle poking through his skin, the cold relief of an anesthetic coursing through his veins. He felt his hands convulse, letting go of his weapon as his arms went numb and limp. The shouting of his comrades seemed to fade away as his head lolled to one side, and he felt himself slip into unconsciousness.


	2. Crash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A hostage situation goes awry.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok wow didn't expect y'all to like this...  
> So next chapter may be up in 2 weeks since school is looming and I haven't done any shopping...

Lance woke up to static and screams.  
  
He had faded in and out of consciousness for a time, feeling himself being dragged through the Galra ship. A hand (or claw?) always maintained a vise-like grip on his wrist or neck, humming to themselves as they dragged his dead weight around. He had a brief moment of lucidity when he heard a door open in front of them, and felt himself being propped up by another pair of hands. His eyes opened for a split second, only to see sharp eyes staring back at him.   
  
"Keith?" he almost whispered, hoping against hope that somehow, _somehow_ , Mullet-head had done him a solid and had actually gotten him out of the Galra ship. 

 

But then the room grew blurry and he sank down into sleep back once again.   
  
When he really woke up, he heard Pidge's voice screeching through the comms of his helmet (not something he was pleased to have woken up to-his ears were ringing long after the following conversation.)

 

"...channel to the Galra ship!" She was saying, and there was a flurry of commotion behind her as people were yelling and moving things around. His eyes opened slowly as Allura's voice echoed through his head. "Galra command, this is Princess Allura. Identify yourselves and your intentions. I repeat-"    
  
"Well, well, well...what have we here?"   
  
Allura was interrupted by a smooth voice which radiated amusement and malice. At first, Lance thought that he was listening in of a conversation with his comms. Then the voice spoke again, and his blood turned to ice when he realized that this voice was not coming from the comms of his helmet.   
  
"It seems that I have captured quite a pretty blue lion tamer."    
  
He jerked his head to the right, only to see Lotor's yellow eyes flash in a wink as he turned to face him. The prince was dressed in Galra armour, and was in front a huge screen that took up most of the ship's window. Lance sat up and took a cursory examination of his surroundings. This cockpit was nice and wide, yes, but still too small for it to be the cockpit of the battleship they had boarded for the mission. He was somewhere else. They took him somewhere else and he had _notbeensavedhehadbeencapturedandattheirmercy_ -   
  
He breathed.   
  
"Where am I?" he asked cooly, wincing at the pain that emanated from his throat when he talked. He tried to rub it with his hand, but found that he was actually chained to the chair that he was currently sitting on with thick clasps that gripped his wrists.    
He looked back up at Lotor, who had turned away from him and back to the screen, which was filled with Allura's worried face peering into the Galra cockpit. It was obvious that she had tried (and failed) to school her features into a stony expression.    
  
"Lotor," she was saying, unaware of Lance's presence. He was blocked by the prince, who was leaning lazily on a console, white hair flowing freely down his back. Lance wondered if anyone had ever tried to yank the prince's hair during a fight before. Then he wondered if they had survived the aftermath.   
  
The princess continued speaking in a measured tone.   
  
"We know that you have the Blue Paladin. Where is he?"    
  
"Oh, him?" Lotor's voice raised in mock surprise and hurt, as if he thought the Altaean had called to talk to him especially. "Well, if you insist on knowing his whereabouts…”

“Oh,” Lance heard a male voice growl from Allura’s side, away from the screen. (Keith? He couldn’t be sure-his ears were still ringing and the room wasn’t exactly stable in his mind.) “We insist on-”

Lotor put up a hand and sighed, shaking his head.

 

“No need to growl, kitties...He's right here."    
  
The Galran stepped to the side dramatically, allowing the princess to see Lance chained to the chair in front of her. Allura gasped with relief. He smiled weakly and tried to wave with his fingers. "Hey, guys," he muttered, and the screen in front of him started to fill with familiar faces.   
  
"Lance! Are you alright, buddy?" That was Hunk, peering over Allura's shoulder to look through the screen. Pidge was right in front of him, holding on to the big guy's sleeve nervously as she scanned Lance wordlessly for damage. 

 

He wondered briefly about her reunion with her brother. He hoped she was happy. He wished that she would look at him with anything other than the expression she had now-tearful eyes covered with large glasses and a set jaw, the same look she always had when spending late nights chasing information about her family.   
  
_I'll find you,_ her eyes whispered.   
  
_Why bother?_ , he wanted to whisper back.   
  
The girl slipped down and away from the screen, leaving Lance with a very worried Hunk.    
  
"I'm alive, Hunk." he tried for a cocky attitude. "The Galra are too scared to lay a finger on this guy."   
  
_ Wham! _   
  
Lance felt his organs crumple. He bent double as a fist connected with his torso, knocking the air-and a bit of his life-out of him. He stayed down as Hunk screamed and Shiro swore (he had never heard him swear before-where did he even come from?). 

 

Lotor just clicked his tongue, wagging a finger at his assailant. "Zethrid," he chided, and Lance looked up to see a tall, muscular Galra woman stand at attention with a glower on her face. "We can't hurt hostages too badly."   
  
Wait, hostage?   
  
Lotor turned back to Allura. Both the Yellow and Black Paladin now stood beside her, concern apparent on their faces. Lance distantly wondered exactly why they were worried as he tried to breathe in, out. In, out.   
  
He breathed.   
  
"Here are my demands." Lotor raised a finger. "You want your comrade? Give me Voltron."   
  
Lance laughed (it was more of a wheeze).   
  
Zethrid turned her glower towards him now, fists at the ready. "And what's so funny?" she growled, and his smirk shrunk a size.    
  
"They won't give up Voltron."    
  
"Even if your life is on the line?"   
  
Lance leveled his gaze at her. " _Especially_ if my life is on the line."   
  
"Lance," Shiro started, but Lance was already staring Lotor down. "You made a mistake trying to use me as hostage.” He sneered, and he saw Lotor’s calculating gaze waver.

 

“You see, not only did you pick the weakest fighter," -he ignored Hunk's protests at that statement- "You also picked the one person they don't need to form Voltron."    
  
A reddish hand now appeared on his shoulder. Another Galra general-the acrobat, he had called her- peered down at him with questioning eyes. "But you're a Paladin," she said. "Don't they need you to make the kitties do their connecting thing?"    
  
"Ezor," Zethrid said, but Lance just shrugged. "There are new Paladins now. So we'll continue to kick your asses. And that's that." If he could fold his arms arrogantly, he would. But he just settled but a victorious smirk as Lotor and his generals processed the information they just received.   
  
Right then, an alarm went off.   
  
"Sir!" Another voice came from one of the chairs surrounding the controls in front of the ship. "Something's locked onto our coordinates. It seems to be the Altaean castle!”   
  
Coran said something in Altaean as Pidge yelled "We got 'em!"   
  
"Get to hyperdrive!" Lotor commanded, and the two girls flanking Lance disappeared, rushing off to their own stations.   
  
A flash of blue lit up the cockpit. Lance turned to see the edge of a wormhole appear in the corner of the window, right behind the ship. He heard Allura saying "All firing systems are ready. Aiming..."   
  
Lotor cursed. "Hurry up!"   
  
"Apologies!" cried Ezor. "We've been having to do this manually ever since-"   
  
Shiro's voice came through the screen.   
  
"We're giving you ten seconds to give us Lance," he warned, looking Lotor dead in the eyes. Lance could have sworn that he saw the Galran prince actually step back half a centimetre when he saw the Black Paladin's expression.    
  
"And what happens when these ten seconds are up?" Lotor inquired, stroking his chin thoughtfully.   
  
"Then you all get blown to bits."   
  
"My ship has a lot of defenses."   
  
"Our castle has a lot of lasers."   
  
"You'd be killing your friend."   
  
"Like he said," Shiro stole a glance at Lance before continuing. "He isn't needed to form Voltron. We can do without him."   
  
Lance felt something in his heart give way.   
  
He put on a cocky, i-told-you-so smile when Lotor turned to look at him, despite the ongoing struggle in his mind. There was a part of him that knew that Shiro was (most likely) bluffing for time, for leverage. But another part of him whispered and doubted, that skulked and cried at the back of his mind that Shiro was finally saying what he had always thought, what they had all thought about Lance the minute the Blue Lion had opened up for him.   
  
_ You're not good enough. You'll never be good enough. _   
  
He breathed.   
  
At the edge of the hologram, he caught sight of Keith's jacket.   
  
"Time's up." Shiro said calmly at the same time Ezor exclaimed "We got it!"   
  
"Initiate hyperdrive!" Lotor barked, and Lance felt himself being pushed against his seat as he heard Coran yell "Fire!".   
  
The ship lurched forward, it's engines flaring with a bright purple light as it started to make the jump to hyperdrive-   
  
And then half of it tore off.   
  
The Galra prince was thrown to the left as the ship lurched due to the force of the laser. Lance felt the ship turn and flip, the hyperdrive boosters still running on full power, throwing them into the void of space. The other generals were shouting at each other and cursing in different tongues, the sheer shock and fear of their predicament now overriding their thoughts. There was commotion on the Altaean castle as well; Coran was yelling something about a changed trajectory, Pidge seemed to be crying, and all of a sudden he heard Keith's voice, filled with static but clear on the comms.

 

“Sorry-shshsh-ance! For every-shshshs-we’ll come-shsh-find you! Please, just stay-”

 

The transmission cut off, and it was just Lance, alone with his demons, careening into the darkness of space.

  
He breat-

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chill w me on tumblr loves  
> @extra-plus-ordinary


End file.
